Google Search Trends And Personal Health Management  

What diseases people search for on the internet provides a useful hint to how that information is used. A list of 20 most searched diseases on Google is very surprising; it does not include any life-threatening disease and has a strange mix of indications seldom discussed together. But it points to an important trend. There are two ways to get information about anything; search the internet or ask an expert (aka, your physician). And there are two reasons to find more information about a disease; we want to know enough to treat or manage it ourselves, or be able to ask our physician relevant questions. The most searched diseases include such diverse topics as diabetes, depression, anxiety, lupus, herpes, pneumonia, strep throat, and shingles. Almost all these diseases are where a patient or family member may want to know more before going to the doctor. Some of these diseases are chronic in nature so patients are constantly looking for any new ideas for disease management. All surveys indicate that most people confirm the information they found on internet with their doctors. The list of most searched disease gives partial information. It does not mean that consumers do not search for information related to other diseases; most likely they do. But other indications may be split into multiple smaller categories. For example, someone searching online for information on cancer would likely look for the specific kind of cancer such as breast cancer, rather than looking at the term cancer alone. This means that if all the cancers are combined they may come up higher on the list of total searches than any one kind alone. This information on Google search trends may appear innocuous but combined with the information available to consumers from other sources, indicates a trend towards greater awareness of one’s health status in medical terms. Patients have a wealth of personal health data easily available from their wearable devices and smart phones. The list of most searched diseases does not include diseases that would be detectable via wearable devices and there is no data that links the information from wearable devices to Google searches but common sense dictates that most likely consumers search internet to understand any abnormal personal health data and take action, from changing behavior to talking to their physicians. This in turn means that digital health algorithms that help patients self-diagnose should be very popular. There are several active programs to develop artificial intelligence (AI) protocols that could analyze information from multiple sources to diagnose and suggest treatment options. It is expected that in the not so distant future, AI systems may manage the bulk of patient treatments with physicians acting in consulting capacities to confirm or troubleshoot rather than initial diagnosis. The Google search trends show that consumers and patients will be receptive of that.